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Blogging Disney is an unofficial site featuring news, reviews, and retrospectives of everything Disney. Blogging Disney is researched and written by a lifelong Disney fan and is in no way affiliated with the Walt Disney Company or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries. This blog is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not reflect the opinions or views of the Walt Disney Company.

Valerie Champagne,
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Samantha McElhaney,
contributing photographer

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2012 Cruises Sail from New Ports

In July, my husband and I are taking our first Caribbean cruise together out of New York on Princess Cruise Line’s Caribbean Princess ship. As New Yorkers (and Disney fans), we were excited to hear that Disney Cruise Line will add New York as a port of call on two new cruise itineraries beginning in 2012.

Disney Sails from New York, image from Disneycruise.disney.go.com

Disney’s first two cruise ships: Disney Magic, which launched in 1998, and sister ship Disney Wonder, which launched in 1999, are highly ranked on Cruise Critic’s Cruisers’ Choice Poll, earning a 4.6 and a 4.5 Overall ranking, respectively, and ranking especially highly in Entertainment (3rd & 4th overall) and Family & Children rankings for Kids Ages 10-12 (3rd & 6th overall), Kids Ages 13-15 (1st & 4th overall), and Kids Ages 16+ (2nd & 5th overall). And with two new Disney ships on the way: Disney Dream, which had its maiden voyage on January 26, 2011, and Disney Fantasy, which is set to launch in March, 2012, Disney Magic and Disney Wonder will soon debut at brand new ports of call.

The recently announced itineraries include an eight-day Bahamas cruise and a five-day Canada cruise out of New York, a seven-night Western Caribbean cruise out of Galveston, and a seven-night Alaska cruise out of Seattle. Below are the new Disney itineraries and how they compare to the 2012 itineraries of other popular cruise lines out of the same embarkation ports.

Disney Cruise Line, image from Disneycruise.disney.go.com

2012 Itineraries for Cruises to the Bahamas from New York/New Jersey

Disney Cruise LineDisney Magic

Norwegian Cruise LineNorwegian GemNorwegian JewelNorwegian Pearl

Royal CaribbeanExplorer of the Seas

Eight-Night BahamasMay-August

Seven-Night BahamasJanuary-December

Eight-Night BahamasMarch

From $1240

From $499

From $899

New York

New York

New Jersey

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

Port Canaveral

Nassau

Nassau

Grand Stirrup Cay

Nassau

Castaway Cay

Nassau

CocoCay

Port Canaveral

At Sea

Port Canaveral

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

New York

At Sea

New York

–

New Jersey

Disney Port of Call, Disneycruise.disney.go.com

2012 Itineraries for Cruises to Canada from New York

Disney Cruise LineDisney Magic

Princess Cruise LineCaribbean Princess

Norwegian Cruise LineNorwegian Gem

Five-Night CanadaJune-September

Seven-Night Canada & New EnglandSeptember-October

Ten-Night Canada & QuebecMarch

From $715

From $799

From $799

New York

New York

New York

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

Halifax

Halifax

Halifax

St. John

St. John

At Sea

At Sea

Bar Harbor

Quebec City

New York

Boston

Quebec City

–

Newport

At Sea

–

New York

Corner Brook

–

–

Sydney

–

–

At Sea

–

–

New York

Disney Port of Call, image from Disneycruise.disney.go.com

2012 Itineraries for Cruises to the Caribbean from Galveston

Disney Cruise LineDisney Magic

Carnival Cruise LineCarnival Magic

Royal CaribbeanMariner of the Seas

Seven-Night Western CaribbeanSeptember-December

Seven-Night Western CaribbeanJanuary-December

Seven-Night Western CaribbeanJanuary-April

From $840

From $519

From $529

Galveston

Galveston

Galveston

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

Cozumel

Cozumel

Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman

George Town

Costa Maya

Montego Bay

Falmouth

Cozumel

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

Galveston

Galveston

Galveston

Disney Port of Call, image from Disneycruise.disney.go.com

2012 Itineraries for Cruises to Alaska from Seattle

Disney Cruise LineDisney Wonder

Carnival Cruise LineCarnival Spirit

Princess Cruise LineGolden Princess

Seven-Night AlaskaMay-August

Seven-Night AlaskaMay-September

Seven-Night AlaskaMay-September

From $917

From $629

From $799

Seattle

Seattle

Seattle

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

Tracy Arm

Tracy Arm

Juneau

Skagway

Skagway

Skagway

Juneau

Juneau

Glacier Bay (Scenic)

Ketchikan

Ketchikan

Ketchikan

Victoria

Victoria

Victoria

Seattle

Seattle

Seattle

For help planning your next Disney cruise, visit the official Disney Cruise Line website. For reviews and information on hundreds of cruise ships and itineraries, visit Cruise Critic.

Can you add port of call times? For example DCL port calls for alaska is shorter compared to other cruise lines. Like Juneau for example, DCL only stops there from 7:45AM to 12:30PM, a mere 4 hours and 45 minutes. The DCL stop at Ketchikan is even shorter.

If you’re looking for deals on cruises, I’d really recommend signing up for Cruisecritic.com’s email list (http://cruisecritic.com). Cruise Critic is a really excellent resource for planning cruises and for finding deals on different cruise lines, and if you sign up with them (it’s free), they’ll email you once a week with current offers from various cruise lines. Cruisedeals.com, Kayak.com, Priceline.com, and Hotwire.com are also great resources for discounts.

Unfortunately, Disney Cruise Lines tends to be more expensive than some of the other lines such as Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Lines, so you may want to consider those lines as well. Shorter itineraries (3-5 days) are usually cheaper than week long cruises, and there are also “cruises to nowhere” that last only a day or two and give you the experience of being on a cruise ship without taking you to any ports of call. Cruising in the off-season, usually the winter and fall, is cheaper than cruising in the spring and summertime, and it’s a good idea to avoid holidays.

WANT TO TAKE MY NEPHEW, WHO IS A COLLEGE STUDENT, ON A DISNEY CRUISE OUT FROM NY….LET ME KNOW WHEN IT THE CHEAPEST TIME I CAN DO THIS AND PLEASE INCLUDE WEEKEND CRUISES AS WELL AS THE ONE WEEK CRUISES…I ALWAYS PROMISED HIM…WANT TO SURPRISE HIM, BUT THE COST IS SO MUCH, PLEASE HELP ME OUT…THANK YOU ROSEMARY